I caught the tail end of the Euro Cup 2008 match between the Netherlands and Russia this morning. It actually took me quite a while to figure out which teams were playing, because (and this is one of my biggest problems with football coverage) they never show the scoreboard. I quickly figured out that the Dutch were in orange (William of Orange was Dutch, right?) but it wasn't until they showed a graphic of someone named Pavl Yuchenko that I assumed the other team was Russia. They finally showed the scoreboard around 20 minutes after I started watching.

Apart from not showing the scoreboard, they also never show the time remaining. This is a problem, you see, I'd usually catch an English Premiere League match, and think, Hey, it's Chelsea versus Liverpool, this shouldd be good, only for the match to end all of a sudden because there had only been two minutes to go when I started tuning in, and then they'd finally show the score and it was a great game with many spectacular goals which you wouldn't see because they never show replays either.

It feels like the coverage is punishing you for having the audacity to tune in late and/or to not pay much attention for the match. What, you haven't spent the past ninety minutes rapt in attention to a bunch of white guys running around? Why, you don't deserve to know how this match is going! I can imagine my television turning its nose up on me.

They never show the score, or the time, but they keep cutting to shots of pale, pudgy, and hairy shirtless Russian dudes in the stands. So at least there's that.

It did turn out to be a great match. Russia had been leading for a while and had been looking dominant but the Netherlands scored a goal in the 86-minute mark to force extra time. Russia kept the pressure though and they finally came through with two goals in the second extra period. They had been attacking throughout the match, and the Dutch goalkeeper looked exhausted. Of course, this all just led to more gratuitous shots of the barechested Russian fans.